Instant messaging is an increasingly popular communication tool that enables two or more users to exchange messages via a network. For instance, when two users are online at the same time, instant messages may be exchanged in real time between the two users. In this way, the instant messages may be utilized to support a text conversation between the two users in a manner that mimics how the two users would participate in a typical spoken conversation.
While instant messaging is an effective tool for communication, a traditional instant messaging experience is restricted to using graphics and therefore has limited richness. For example, text messages that are exchanged between two users may have limited context due to a lack of voice inflection and mannerisms that otherwise would be experienced by the users if they were face-to-face or even speaking on the phone. Therefore, these text messages are limited in how they may be utilized to convey ideas and emotions. Such limitations may result in the inability of the participants to accurately portray ideas behind the text message, thereby subjecting the text messages to erroneous interpretations. For example, humor and sarcasm may be difficult to accurately portray due to the limitations of text messaging and the real-time nature of instant messaging. For instance, because instant messages may be exchanged in real time, a user may have a limited amount of time to compose a message and therefore may not adequately consider all the possible interpretations of a text message.
One method utilized to add richness to text messages involves the use of emoticons. Emoticons are typically provided through a sequence of ASCII printable characters used to represent a human face and express an emotion. For example, emoticons that express happy or positive emotions are typically classified as “smileys” and may be provided by a combination of characters, such as “:)”, “:>)”, and so on. Likewise, emoticons that express negative emotions may be provided by a combination of characters, such as “:(”, “:p”, and so on. However, even though emoticons may add richness to the instant messaging experience, emoticons and text messages both rely on visual representations, thereby ignoring other senses of the users which may be utilized to convey ideas and emotions.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for instant messaging with audio.